ABSTRACT
In the Parlement of Paris, the chief police officer was the Procureur-General, whose orders were carried out by the ushers or by sergeants acting under his command. There was an aspect, however, of the Parlemen’s power of police besides the right to arrest lawbreakers: that of issuing regulations which covered omissions in the law or which interpreted how a law should be understood. Much of the Parlemen’s authority in Paris came from its influence in municipal affairs. During the madness of Charles VI, the captivity of Francis I after Pavia and the civil wars of religion, the Parlement took the initiative. The Parlement had obligations too, in the matters of provisioning the capital. Finally, it was the Parlemen’s responsibility to provide the city with wood for fuel in the winter, to regulate its sale and its price.
